Markey reiterates calls for nuclear no-first-use policy amid Pentagon shake-up

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sounded the alarm Wednesday over a continued shake-up in Pentagon leadership following President Trump’s defeat in the White House race, reiterating calls for a nuclear no-first-use policy. 

Markey, a vocal progressive, pointed to the shuffling in leadership while calling for a nuclear no-first-use policy, an issue for which he’s long advocated. 

“President Trump’s replacement of Senate confirmed Pentagon officials with sycophants is extremely alarming. Gone are the so-called adults in the room, who couldn’t stop Trump’s worst impulses. Replacing them are bigots and party hacks,” Markey tweeted. 

“Trump’s erratic and vindictive behavior is a scary reminder that the U.S. president does not need the backing of ANYONE, sycophant or not, to authorize the use of a U.S. nuclear weapon. We need a nuclear no-first use policy for our country,” he added.

Trump’s erratic and vindictive behavior is a scary reminder that the U.S. president does not need the backing of ANYONE, sycophant or not, to authorize the use of a U.S. nuclear weapon. We need a nuclear no-first use policy for our country.

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 11, 2020

The remarks come after a flurry of resignations at the Pentagon after Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper. Since Esper’s ouster, the Pentagon’s top policy official, James Anderson; the agency’s top intelligence official, Joseph Kernan; and Esper’s chief of staff, Jen Stewart, all submitted their resignations.

The departures exacerbated Democratic handwringing that Trump is trying to install loyalists to top government posts in the final two-plus months of his presidency.

“Dismissing politically appointed national security leaders during a transition is a destabilizing move that will only embolden our adversaries and put our country at greater risk,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Tuesday. “It has long been clear that President Trump cares about loyalty above all else, often at the expense of competence, and during a period of presidential transition competence in government is of the utmost importance.

“As soon as Former Vice President Biden became President-Elect Biden, President Trump and those loyal to him started to sow chaos and division. It appears that chaos has now reached the Pentagon.”

Trump is reportedly also considering dismissing other officials, including FBI Director Christopher Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel, mainly over his gripes that they did not investigate his baseless claims of wrongdoing by Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, over the younger Biden’s foreign business dealings.